WE WERE NOT ALONE

While in grade school, there were a few occasions when we rode on the school bus along with many of our friends. We never ever gave it much thought and the bus seemed to be always dirty and loud. You could hear it coming down the street and when the driver stopped the bus by our house, the big red lights went on and every driver had to wait until the lights went off and the driver started to move the bus forward.

There were young kids on the bus, kindergartners, and 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade kids also riding on the bus. Josh and I sat together and around us we could hear various conversations from the other kids, or being a part of a conversation. There was more than one time when a kid would wet his/her pants while on the bus and while that kid really got teased to the N-th degree. Most of the time, the wetter was a kindergartener, however, on some occasions, an older kid was the wetter. Josh and I knew first hand how the kid who did the wetting felt and we always felt bad for them and offered our friendship without telling anyone that we had similar problems.

During the bus rides, especially during the morning trips, many of the kids would talk about diapers. Either they or one of their siblings had to wear diapers at night due to bedwetting. Josh and I never shared any of our personal information in so far as wearing diapers every night but then we never made fun of any of the kids who did. In our eyes, diapers at night were just something that kids wore if they were bedwetters like us. In retrospect, some of the kids who did wet and wore diapers were just being honest with the other kids on the bus.

Both Josh and I liked school and we were always in the same grade and classes together. Often times it was hard for the teachers to know who was who! In some cases, the teacher would have one of us sit in front of the room and the other in the back of the room to make it easier to know.

We had many friends and often times kids would come to our house to play. We had a huge game/toy room and it was the perfect place to play with our friends, especially if the weather were not very agreeable. We didn’t have many sleepovers, however there were a few. The guys who did stay were in our class and we enjoyed being with them. Our parents never had a problem with anyone staying over, however all sleepovers had to be first cleared with our friend’s parents and with ours. Maggie never had a problem with it so long as our parents approved.

Samuel, a very good friend of ours stayed a few times at our house. We liked playing with him and it was easy to make him laugh. Both Josh and I had double beds and so on one night over, Samuel was going to sleep in my bed. At this point, I guess it’s fair to mention that kids don’t get a lot of sleep when they are at a sleep over. In fact my parents who really needed their sleep warned us on more than one occasion to turn the lights out and to go to sleep. While for the most part that didn’t happen, we did have enough sense to quite down some so our parents could get their rest. They were on the 2^nd floor of our house and we were on the 3^rd floor.

Samuel didn’t know at first that I wore a diaper to bed at night. When it came time to put our PJs on, Samuel went into the bathroom first to shower and brush his teeth. When he got back to the bedroom in his PJs, Josh and he played a game while I went into the bathroom to clean up and brush my teeth. Once that was done, I went into the game room to use the couch to put my diaper on. I usually did that in my bed but Sam and Josh were there and I didn’t want Sam to see me putting on a diaper.

When I walked into the bedroom, Josh and Sam finished their game and I jumped into bed. Josh turned out my bedroom light while Sam jumped into bed and in no time, Josh’s bedroom light was out too.

Sam and I giggled a lot when we got in bed and tossed around a lot making jokes. He must have heard the crinkling noise of the diaper because he point blank asked me if I had a diaper on. I didn’t lie and told him that yes I did have one on and it was good for him if he didn’t want to get wet. He confided in me that when he was a little younger, he had a plastic sheet on his bed but he never had to wear a diaper. He also told me that he stopped wetting and so his mom took the plastic sheet off his bed. I told him my bed had a rubber sheet on it and he said he knew that because he could see the outline of it under the white sheets. He asked me if Josh ever slept in my bed and if he ever wet. Sam was quite surprised when I told him that Josh also wore a diaper at night and yes, he and I often would sleep together if our bed got wet. Nothing much came of those conversations as being in the sixth grade, boys had more important things to talk about.

When Sam did stay at our house, it was always on weekend night. On this particular sleep over, I got up in the morning, wet as usual and went into the bathroom to take off my diaper and wash up. Back in the bedroom, Sam was getting out of bed and he asked me if I wet during the night. I told him that I did and he asked if I still had a diaper on. I told him that I took if off in the bathroom and had underpants on. About that time, Josh got up and Sam went across to his room and asked if he was wet. I believe Josh’s answer was yes and Josh seemed to be somewhat taken back that Sam would even ask the question. When we got down to the breakfast table, Josh asked me if Sam also wet the bed and I told him that he didn’t but that when he was a little younger he did.

Cloth diapers and plastic pants were always more comfortable than a disposable diaper. Also, the cloth diaper and plastic pants didn’t make any noise as compared to a disposable diaper. I though about that during breakfast and it dawned on me that had I used a cloth diaper, (night diaper, consisting of two diapers), and plastic pants, Sam would have never known that I wore diapers to bed.

When Sam’s mother came to pick him up, he asked if we could stay at his house some night and of course the answer was yes. We actually did stay at Sam’s house on a few occasions, and both Josh and I knew that somehow our parents discussed with Sam’s parents about our need to wear a diaper at night. It wasn’t any big deal on the times that we did stay at Sam’s house, but his mother did put a plastic sheet on the bed that Josh and I used at their house.

One night Josh, Sam, Benjamin, (another friend), and I got our parents to let us put up a tent in the backyard and to spend the night in the tent. When dad got home from the office, he helped us put up the tent and we had a cookout too. All of it was fun and we were looking forward to spending the night outdoors. Auggie, our protector didn’t seem to mind so long as there was water for her to drink and some table scraps for her dinner. She was comfortable in the tent and was content to sleep on my sleeping bag. The only problem with having a pet dog spend the night with us was her constant going out of the tent to check on the noises that only she was hearing.

We used the bathroom on the first floor of the house to get ready for bed and all of us wore PJs. Josh and I had a diaper on under our PJs and Sam knew it and I think Benjamin knew too, however, that was never confirmed.

We talked for a long time in the tent and once the lights were out, things got un-nerving as Auggie would go out of the tent, come back in and never really settle down. She was protecting us to her best ability. All of us could hear some noises but it wasn’t until a rat coon or some other small animal made some noises in the brush at the property line that really scared us and we went hightailing it to the house. We were all scared and so we ended up in the house, Benjamin sleeping with Josh in his bed and Sam with me in my bed. We got some real ribbing from our parents in the morning and dad was saying he came out to the tent with his coffee and some hot coco for us and he couldn’t find any of us there. We explained to him that there was something in the brush and that Auggie was going crazy but he just gave us a smile and said “sure boys, I know”

All kids have sleepovers and they are fun. We had many and lost a lot of sleep because of them. It wasn’t until another friend, Jeffery, more to me than Josh, was going to spend the night at our house. Jeffery was a bedwetter and neither Josh nor I knew this. He came with his mom and dad and we naturally went to the playroom to fool around while his parents were talking to our parents. It seems Jeffery’s parents had discussed his bedwetting with our parents and found that this was no big deal at our house. What was a big deal, however, was the fact that both Josh and I wore a night diaper and Jeffery only had a waterproof sheet on his bed.

His mother called him back to the foyer of our house and talked to him for quite awhile. We could see that he was upset when he finally agreed to what ever it was that they were discussing. The next thing we knew, our mom and Maggie were showing Jeffery’s mother where our bedrooms were and in particular my bedroom. In a short while, Jeffery came back to the first floor of the house with his mother. He kissed his mother and dad goodbye and then joined us. He wouldn’t say much but did tell me about his bedwetting and that his mom put one of our diapers and plastic pants on him before they left. Both Josh and I let him know that it was no big deal cause we wore diapers too. Jeffery told us his mother told him that we did and so most everything was then okay, expect for Jeffery’s feelings being hurt.

Because it was so early in the evening, I asked Jeffery why he already had a diaper on. He told me it was because of his mother. We ended up talking to my mom and she told me to help Jeffery take his diaper off and just put it on the bed and if he needed help with getting ready for bed later that evening she would help. Jeffery seemed to be somewhat relieved that he could play for the rest of the evening with just his underpants on under his jeans, but he also seemed to understand that he would have to face wearing a diaper later that same evening. For awhile at least, he did forget about the situation and we had a lot of fun as usual.